Brooks: "Do you feel, in hindsight, that you overloaded your system? Overloaded your system with drugs, smoking, drink?"

Douglas: "No. No. Ah, without getting too specific, this particular cancer is caused by something called HPV, which actually comes about from cunnilingus."

Regardless of what Douglas actually said or meant, one thing is certain: You can get throat cancer from oral sex.

HPV is a sexually transmitted disease that, if left untreated, can cause cancers of the cervix, anus, penis, vulva and vagina, as well as head and neck cancers, Time magazine reports.

Cancers of the mouth and throat related to oral sex are on the rise among older adults, according to the American Cancer Society.

About 60 percent of oropharyngeal cancers -- cancers of the throat, tonsils and the base of the tongue -- are related to HPV, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is estimated that every year more than 2,370 new cases of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers are diagnosed in women and about 9,356 are diagnosed in men. They are most common in white men.

Insurers asked to let patients get specialty drugs at pharmacies:
State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman is urging the state's health insurers to change their policies to allow members to purchase specialty drug prescriptions from retail pharmacies instead of through mandatory mail-order services. Schneiderman said his office's Healthcare Bureau has received dozens of hardship complaints from consumers relating to mail-order requirements.

Daily suncreen use stops wrinkles: Dermatologists have been telling patients for years that using sunscreen regularly can protect skin against aging. Now there's research to back that up. A new study shows that people instructed to apply sunscreen every day showed 24 percent less skin aging, as measured by lines and coarseness of the skin, than those told to use the cream as they usually do. (Wall Street Journal)

Fewer families struggling to pay medical bills: Fewer American families are having problems paying medical bills, according to a study by the National Center for Health Statistics. Still, nearly a fifth of families still struggle with that financial responsibility. (Kaiser Health News)

You can contact health writer James T. Mulder at jmulder@syracuse.com or 470-2245